The Food System and Climate Adaptation Policy Engagement Workshop brought together civil society, labour, community organisations, small-scale producers and researchers to deepen collective understanding of how climate change is reshaping South Africa’s food system, and how the implementation of the Climate Change Act 22 of 2024 can be shaped through justice-based, participatory advocacy.

This report captures three days of discussion, analysis and strategising. It sets out the political context, unpacks the links between climate change and the food system, examines dominant policy approaches and emerging alternatives, and maps out concrete entry points for engagement in national, sectoral and local climate processes.

Why this workshop matters

South Africa’s food system sits at the centre of the climate crisis. It is both:

• A significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, across production, transport, processing and waste; and

• Deeply vulnerable to climate impacts, including drought, flooding, extreme heat, shifting rainfall patterns and ocean changes.

These pressures intersect with structural inequalities, concentrated land ownership, precarious labour, gendered burdens of care, rising food prices and insecure tenure, intensifying hunger and exclusion.

The workshop created space to ask a critical question:

How do we ensure that climate policy transforms the food system rather than stabilising its inequalities?

Climate change and the food system: a systemic view

Participants reflected on how climate impacts are experienced differently across constituencies, including:

• Land rights movements

• Farm workers and dwellers

• Informal traders and waste pickers

• Farmers and fishers

• Labour federations

• Climate justice organisations

• Youth activists

Across these groups, climate impacts cascade through interconnected systems:

• Heat stress reduces working days and harms health

• Drought and floods reduce yields and income

• Food price increases undermine nutrition

• Weak municipal infrastructure compounds vulnerability

• Restrictive land and resource governance deepens exclusion

The workshop affirmed that adaptation cannot be separated from land reform, labour rights, gender justice, local markets, and democratic governance.

From technical fixes to transformative alternatives

South Africa’s mainstream climate responses, including earlier sectoral plans, have largely emphasised climate-smart agriculture, efficiency and risk management within the existing agricultural model.

Workshop discussions highlighted a different paradigm emerging from constituencies:

• Agroecology as a democratic, labour-affirming and ecologically grounded alternative

• Secure land tenure and redistributive reform

• Protection and recognition of informal food economies

• Gender-just interventions and seed sovereignty

• Climate-proofed workplaces and decent work

• Local buffer stocks and decentralised food systems

Rather than isolated proposals, these were articulated as an integrated strategy for transforming production, labour, trade, consumption and governance across the food system.

Engaging the Climate Change Act

The report provides a practical guide to engagement under the Climate Change Act, including:

• The National Adaptation Strategy and Plan (NASP)

• Sector Adaptation Plans (including agriculture, water, land and rural development)

• Sector Emissions Targets (SETs)

• Provincial and municipal climate response plans

• The role of the Presidential Climate Commission

• Public participation provisions and regulatory processes

These processes offer critical entry points to ensure that:

• Agroecology, food price stabilisation and local food economies are reflected in adaptation objectives

• Differentiated impacts on women, youth, workers and smallholders are recognised

• Food systems are addressed beyond agriculture alone

• Civil society voices shape adaptation scenarios and implementation guidelines

Policy engagement as a site of struggle

The workshop did not romanticise policy spaces. Participants acknowledged:

• Power imbalances and corporate influence

• Tick-box consultation risks

• Capacity constraints in local government

At the same time, policy was recognised as a terrain where rules are set, priorities defined, and resources allocated.

The report outlines principles for effective engagement, including:

• Clear objectives and prioritisation

• Capacity building before consultations

• Simplified and accessible materials

• Coordinated civil society action

• Persistent, relationship-based engagement

• Monitoring and feedback loops

Action plan and way forward

The workshop concluded with a coordinated action plan focused on:

• Finalising and disseminating the workshop report

• Developing a shared policy position document

• Forming a communications and information team

• Translating materials into multiple languages

• Tracking adaptation timelines and consultation processes

• Engaging priority sectors: agriculture, water and land

• Mobilising resources for grassroots participation

• Convening a policy roundtable with key departments

• Coordinated district-level engagement in selected provinces

The emphasis is on sustained, collective engagement to ensure that South Africa’s climate response strengthens, rather than marginalises, those who produce, trade, harvest, work within and depend on the food system.

Download the report

The full workshop report provides detailed analysis, policy breakdowns, timelines, constituency priorities and a structured action plan.

It is intended as both:

• A synthesis of discussions; and

• A practical tool for coordinated climate and food system advocacy.